Little Accomplishments Add Up

I did pretty well yesterday. Counting my chili in a bread bowl for lunch as 12 (which I think is a high estimate) I only went over my points by 3! Ar got home from work late, ate and then needed to digest before going to the gym. We didn't leave for the gym til 7:50 - but it worked out ok. We got there, I did a 5 minute warm up on the treadmill then lifted. Did hip abductors and flexors, calves, hamstrings and leg press. Then I went to do my 20 minutes of cardio to stretch it all out and after 5 minutes of that Ar came up and was like I'm done... And of course I was like OK! Let's go! I need to work on saying "well I still have 15 minutes" and not letting her being done excuse me from finishing. But I still got in a decent workout... just nervous my calves are going to be super sore tomorrow since I didn't work through it afterwards. We shall see.

Then I pull out of the gym parking lot and there is a McDs right there... one which I've NEVER gone to... not even THOUGHT to go to since I always pass it on my way to or from the gym... and Ar says "Can we stop at McDs so I can get a sundae?" I said sure, went through the drive through... get her a hot fudge sunday and just asked for 2 bites. I was proud. I didn't get my own... had my bites and didn't ask for any more. (So I did pretty good not eating after 8pm... just 2 little bites, could have been MUCH worse). Then we got home, I showered and got my bag packed for today and thought I'd watch the Biggest Loser. I was about to sit down and Ar was like can you do me a huge favor before you sit down? (She was set up with the laptop doing work for the Mtn bike website she writes for) and I was like sure. And she said "Can you bring me those peanut butter cookies?" Yes... I had a coupon for Keebler PB filled cookies (think tagalongs) so I bought them for a treat this week. I've been so good with them... I think I've had 4 total and counted all of them. Anyway... so I got up, brought her the cookies and sat next to her on the couch while she ate them and DIDNT ASK FOR ONE!!!!!!! That is SOOOOOOO big. I kept wanting to ask but reminded myself that I didn't need them and I'd already had my cheat for the night.

At 10:30 I got up to go to bed and my stomach was growling a bit, but I knew if I could make it through the kitchen to the bedroom I'd be fine. And I did!!! Fell right asleep and have no guilt this morning. I'm really super proud. Can you tell????

Tonight is day 2, week 3 couch to 5k. WOOHOO! Not sure if I'll go to the gym right from work or after dinner. Either way I'll go at some point.

Bfast:
milk & ovaltine (dind't drink all of it) - 2
waffles w/ fruit compote - 2.5

Lunch:
leftover chicken ravioli - 6

Snacks:
1/2 banana & strawbs with light whipped cream - 1.5
yogurt - 2
celery - 0
1/2 cookie - 2

Dinner:
Making tacos w/ lean ground beef, velveeta and tons of veggies - 6

Happy Wednesday!!! The sun is finally shining here, going up to 71 today! Just got back from a walk around the lake. Oh how I've missed the sun!

Goals, Cookbook, Dress, Contest and More!

Happy New Year everyone! I can't believe it's 08 already. Insane. I had a great Christmas. Went home to Philly for a few days, and then my parents came to Charlotte for the new year. My dad did TONS of work around our house. He's the best :)

Ok -- so I have much to cover in this post so here's a preview:
1) New Years Goals
2) Jessica Seinfeld Cookbook
3) Triathlete??
4) Bridesmaid Dress
5) Contest!
6) Menu

Yes... it's that time of year to make resolutions/goals, whatever you want to call them. I have a bunch which might be setting myself up for failure, but I'm going to try. So here they are:

• Make the gym part of my routine. I'm not saying I'm going to go everyday for so many hours... but to just try to work it in a bit more than I normally do
• Go on birth control! Being that I'm in a monogamous relationship with another girl, I don't have to worry about pregnancy scares, but my cramps are so insanely bad and I'm on like a 20 day cycle. So I'm pretty much PMSing, or crampy and have my period 3 out of the 4 weeks in a month. I think the bill will greatly help this. Woohoo!
• Be more supportive of Ar's races season that is coming up! She's been working her butt of training the past month or two so I hope to get to some of her races to cheer her on.
• Take the dogs for more walks. They love it so much, and it's good for me to get out and walk. So why don't I do it more??

I think that's about it. Like I said, it's a lot... but I'm going to try. And if I just get a little bit better at each of them, or even just one of them... then I'm better off than I was in 07!

Ok -- Jessica Seinfeld cookbook. If you don't know anything about it it's called Deceptively Delicious and the premise is that she makes vegetable and fruit purees and then "hides" them in her food so her kids get in veggies without even knowing it. My mom got it for me for Christmas, and I also got a new food processor (which I'm in love with) so last night I whipped up some of the purees to have on hand. I made cauliflower, carrot, spinach and sweet potato. I also made the macaroni and cheese. It was good, but I would have double the amount of pasta for the sauce that the recipe made. It was TOO cheesy for me (if you can believe that). But I think making more pasta, hence more servings with the same amount of sauce would have been perfect. I also made her burgers and put them in the freezer so they're ready to throw on the grill for a quick dinner. I think I might also make her rice balls tonight. So I'll post reviews and recipes as I make things!

Moving right along....

Yes, you read correctly above. I did say Triathlete! Why? Because I'm going to be one in 2008! I put registration to the 2008 SheRoxTri in Philadelphia on my Christmas list and my brother signed me up! Yikes! But this is the kick in the pants I need to get back in shape. The MS 150 wasn't pushing me enough anymore since I knew I could do it... even if I did it slowly, I could still do it with minimal training. So on August 3rd I'll (hopefully) be swimming 0.8K, biking 25k and running 5k! Wish me luck as my training starts SOON!

A while ago I posted a bunch of dresses and asked yall to vote for your favorite. Well I finally went and tried all the dresses on and made my decision... and I'm so sad to say it wasn't even one of the ones I was looking at! I had ruled it out because it was long and we are supposed to have tea-length or cocktail length. Silly me forgot that things can be hemmed!! So here's the winner!!!



I didn't think it would look good on me at all, but I fell in love with it when I tried it on at the bridal shop. And hopefully by May I'll be a few pounds lighter and toned up a bit more, I'm sure it will look great!!

In other news, Roni over at WeightWatchen has announced her first contest! She's such an inspiration, and I'm a sucker for almost ALL of her recipes, so definitely check out her blog (and check out her recipe blog for all of her yummies). The contest is from Orville Redenbacher to promote their new Natural Line of Popcorn. So check it out!!

And finally, today's menu:

Breakfast:
2 multigrain waffles w/ 1/2 banana - 3
I caved and had a greek delight - 2

Lunch:
homemade chicken salad on light bread - 3
clementines - 1

Snacks:
Hostess 100 calorie pack - 1
Fig Newtown - 3

Dinner:
I'm thinking chicken pot pie - 8
side of veggies - 0

Snack:
something for 3

Big Girl Ride

I just got back from a ride with Ar. (She informed me that I went on a 'big girl ride' today haha) She took me on a good new loop... too bad I wont remember it by myself. But I think if I do it once more with her and then take a queue sheet I should be ok. We'll see. We did like 27 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Not too bad.

I ate like crap yesterday, but today I'm back on track and will count all of my points! I think the long ride helped get me in the right mindset.

Tonight we're off to watch the fireworks. I'm excited. I love fireworks!

Menu so far... [Updated!]

Bfast:
Life cereal - 4 points

Snack on Ride:
granolla bar - 2

Late Lunch:
double fiber bread - 1
1 oz chicken breast - 1.5
2 pieces of bacon - 1
avocado - 1
light mayonnaise - .5
fat free chips - 1
a few pieces of pineapple and strawberries - 0

Snack:
Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich - 2
Super Pretzel - 4

Late Dinner:
Barilla Spinach & Cheese tortellini - 6
Sauce and cheese - 1
Bread - 3

Snack:
a few animal crackers - 2

Total Points: 30
APs: 6
Flex Used: 0 WOOHOO!

Happy 4th! Back to work tomorrow... but it will be Thursday, not Monday!

Weigh In

Just a quick post today. I've been kind of bad.... I dont know how to describe it. I've just sort of been eating what I want, but trying to stop when I'm full and not snack as much. But I still know that I could be better.

So today is a fresh start. I'm off to get my hair cut, then go visit are at the Cowbell Challenge. Hopefully I'll get back from there around 4 or so and go for a ride. I wanted to go this morning, but I was out last night and when I got up to drop Ar off this morning at 7:30 I just wasnt ready to be up for the day. Generally I'm very anti doing ANYTHING aerobic after getting my hair cut. But I figure its not that big of a deal... I'll just mess it up :)

Not sure if I'm going to strictly count points, or just make better decisions this week and try to get in as much riding as possible. We'll see :)

Either way I weighed in at 185 today. Down .2. But I was at 183 for a while there... so its time to get back to it. Not to mention this time last year I was at 173 :) haha. I'll get there. It's all about patience.

In other news we've put a bid in on a house! So keep your fingers crossed and if everything goes well I'll give you more info.

Early Rising

One of my friends from home has been trying to get up in the morning to work out. So we arranged a wake up call for this morning. She said if she knew I was counting on her to get ME up that shed get up. So she said shed call me at 6:15am. I set my alarm for 6:15 in case she didnt call. She called at 6:07, and I groggily told her I was awake. All lies though really. I went right back to sleep as my alarm wasnt set til 6:15. That was 8 whole minutes I was going to miss out on!

And then my alarm went off, and God love my girlfriend... she took a beating trying to get me out of bed (as I've given her permission to pretty much do anything short of push me out of the bed).

[Keep in mind she didnt have to get up yet... just me]
Ar: "You have to get up" (takes all covers off me)
Me: (silence)
Ar: "Get out of bed" (nudges me towards the edge of the bed)
Me: "Nooooo I'm tired"
Ar: "You'll feel so much better once youre up, its the getting up thats the hard part"
Me: "... I didnt get enough sleep last night, I'm tired"
Ar: "Well then an extra half hour of sleep isnt going to fix it... so just get up"
(me... laying there silently cursing all things in the world)
So now its like 7 minutes later and Ar finally asks "Are you getting up?" (silence) "Fine... but dont ask me to get you out of bed ever again"
So I angrily threw the covers off (that I had stolen back) and said"Im getting up, but only to shut you up!" I was sooooo bitter. It was really dreadful. Poor Ar.

That being said I got up, stormed around the apt making as much noise as possible so Ar couldnt sleep soundly (I'm a pleasure to live with let me tell you) and went for a quick (well not so much quick as short mileage) ride.

But I do need to publicly apologize to Ar for my nasty behavior this morning. I am NOT a morning person. And clearly I can be quite nasty in the morning. But I really dont mean it... its the sleep talking I swear!

So yes, after my ride I got to the DMV at 7:50, waited in line outside in the rain (thankfully it didnt start raining until after my ride) until they opened at 8... and then hung out there for 2 hours to get an NC license. They make you retake the written test if you have an out of state license. Painful... but thankfully I passed! It was close as I got 3 wrong (and if you get more than 5 wrong you fail).

So I got to work around 10 and I'm leaving at 3 to go get my car registered in NC (as thats at a differen section of the DMV, so difficult.) But either way I'm having a short work day... though sometimes I think I'd rather be at work than standing in line at the DMV. Oh well :) Lets just say a prayer that I have all of the proper documents to get my registration done.

Now onto my menu....

Bfast:
crackers and cheese (random I know but it was in my lunch bag and I was craving it) - 5

Lunch:
chick salad sandwhich - 7
small fruit cup - 1

Snack:
yogurt - 1

Dinner:
veggie pizza - 7
not sure what else....

APs: 4

Celebrating the Little Things

I successfully got up this morning at 6:45 and went for a 9 mile ride. Again its not as much as I'd like but its SOMETHING which is better than nothing, right? Woohoo! The goal is to do it TWO more times this week. (I made a little deal with Ar that if I ride 3 times in the morning this week and 3 times next week she'll put new handlebar tape on my bike. I do well with incentives).

Last night I made hamburgers for dinner (in a skillet, I tried to degrease them as much as I could... but they were stilla bit greasy and delish haha). I was anti-oven as it was 96 degrees out and we are AC-less. I had my burger openfaced on a small piece of my home made wheat bread with avocado, ketchup and mustard on it. YUM-O! Also served with corn on the cob (I was so full from my burger that I didnt have any) and big fruit salad. So it was a pretty good dinner all around!

Todays menu...

Breakfast:
Choc chip cookie (woops) - 2
Nectarine - 1 pt,1 fruit serving
VitaMuffin - 1 pt

Lunch:
Small piece of veggie pizza - 4 pt, 1 veggie serving
Fruit salad - 2 pt, 3 fruit servings
Yogurt - 1 pt, 1 milk serving

Snack:
100 cal pack - 2 pt

Dinner:
chicken and veggie burrito - 5 pt, healthy fat, 2 veggie servings
brown rice - 3 pt
fruit salad - 1

Snack:
not sure yet - something for 2

APs: 5 for a 47 min bike ride
Total Points: 24, 0 flex (12 flex remaining)

Lets have a great day!

Chick-Fil-A, Houses, and a Vacation

Chick-fil-A for dinner last night. WOOPS! But I still did ok. I didnt really snack at work and didnt snack when I got home last night. And I just had a 4 piece nugget kids meal w/ their diet lemonade (so yummy). Could have been much worse. We went there after Ar and I looked at our first house!!!!!! We are both absolutely in LOVE with it (our pictures here). My mom, my aunt (whos a realtor) and our realtor (who had these funny looking suspenders on hahaha) have all encouraged us to look at a few more things just to make sure, but I have a feeling that we're going to want to make an offer on this one. Its got EVERYTHING we want, and its adorable. Not much we'd have to change at all.

So yes... thats why we had Chick-Fil-A for dinner.

Today I'm doing what I like to call Euro-Eating. When my cousin and I went to France (back in the day) we used to run to the gas station and get a baguette, some cheese and fruit and call it a meal. So today for lunch I have something kind of like that -- cheese and crackers and a HUGE fruit salad. YUM-O. So exciting. I might get some veggie soup at Panera to get in some veggies, we shall see.

In other news I didnt get up today OR yesterday to ride. Looks like Wednesday was just a freak of nature. And tomorrow Ar and I are heading up north for a while. (So if I'm MIA that would be why). So I'll be at my parents house and doing lots of friend/family visiting between Sat and Tuesday... which means probably not good eating. My old bike (Trek Hybrid) is still in my parents shed so I'm hoping to ride with my Aunt one day. We shall see! But when I get back, watch out I'm going to become a morning person. I'm determined!!! (At least I'm determined when its not the wee hours of the morning and I'm not snuggled up under the covers!)

In other exciting news while I'm home we'll be doing the great car swap where my brother gets my car (03 civic that has almost 100k miles on it -- but his is literally falling apart so hes pumped about it), I get my moms car (04 Honda Accord, fully loaded baby), and my mom is getting a new car, and donating my bros to charity to get the tax deduction for it. I'm not done paying off my car so my mom paid it off and I'm going to send my payments to her ever month. I do love my mom and dad :) And yes, I realize that I'm a bit spoiled. (I just hope I'm not too much of a spoiled brat! heehee)

Ok onto the menu...

Bfast:
vitamuffin and yogurt - 2

Lunch:
fruit salad - 2
crackers and cheese - 5

Snacks:
asian pear - 0
100 cal pack - 2
maybe something else -- not sure though

Dinner:
No idea. I have to clean out my car, pack, do laundry and get to bed EARLY so probably a pick up dinner using up the veggies in the fridge so they dont go bad!

Gigi!

I got a belated bday present for Ar last night!!!!!! She called on her way home from work and asked if I would be around when she got home to help her unload some boxes from work. I had actually fallen asleep on the couch after work (apparently I really needed sleep as I slept for an hour after work and still had no problems falling asleep at 10pm for the night!!), so I was all out of it. But I said to call a few minutes before she was home and that I'd get changed and help her. Well she didnt call so she got home and I was still in my work clothes (a cute denim skirt, white tank top and green cardigan), and she was like well its not that dirty, you dont need to change. So we went outside and sitting in the back of her truck (she traded in her car this weekend for a new Toyota Tacoma... good heavens do I love driving that thing. I've always wanted a pick up heehee) was a Cruiser that I've been wanting!!!!!

I'm SUPER excited. First of all it's called Gigi, which was my french name in high school... thus everyone in high school called me Geege. So clearly it was meant to be heehee. Second -- it has a BASKET!!!! What does this mean? That tomorrow morning I'm totally riding my new bike to the Farmers Market uptown to get my produce! And it has a bell, 3 speeds, and a rack on the back that I can get a bag for :) It weighs a gajillion pounds, so itll take some getting used to riding, and it has coaster breaks which is also a bit of a change. But after a few jaunts around town I think I'll be all set! So now I cant use the excuse of not wanting to ride my bike places because I have to put on my cycling shoes and dont have a way to carry things. YAY!!!!!

Thanks baby :)

Pictures!

Arleigh got a new camera this weekend (with her tax rebate -- so fun, right? Sometimes I do love taxes haha) which means that shes been taking pictures of everything and anything! Which doesnt exclude myself!

Some of the pictures she took of me I really hate (which is the norm), but there are a few she took that I actually like! Which is quite incredible. So I thought I'd share them. (Apparently this is going to be quite the narcissistic post...)

The first one is from Friday night before the Charlotte Knights game, the second is from when we first woke up yesterday morning, the rest are from a walk we took last night around Charlotte. While Ar stopped to take pictures I'd do crunches or something... so at least I got a mini workout haha.